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Kathleen Wynne and Andrea Horwath aim to transform politics: Cohn

Premier Kathleen Wynne, centre, with Adrienne Clarkson on her right and Canadian Women's Hockey League executive director Brenda Andress on her left, drops the puck Saturday at the Clarkson Cup final in Markham. (RENE JOHNSTON / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

The throbbing beat of rock star Pink’s Raise Your Glass wafts across the cavernous hall as Kathleen Wynne makes her grand entrance amidst a sea of power suits.

Most of the 2,000 people at this $1,200-a-plate Liberal fundraiser seem oblivious to the tune’s risqué lyrics. But Ontario’s new premier marches to a different drummer.

In previous years, the steep ticket price bought a preview of the latest partisan lines being road-tested for the campaign trail. When Wynne ascends the podium, her own words are far more measured than her predecessor’s — or Pink’s.

Wynne surprises her audience with a touchy-feely assault on political traditions, rather than campaign slogans. She utters not a single put-down of her opposition rivals.

Instead, she boasts that her minority Liberal government has found “enough common ground that we have the support of the NDP — at least for now.”

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She wants more talk: “Yes, I am Kathleen Wynne and I have had a lot of conversations since I’ve been premier,” she announces. “I am going to keep having conversations.”

She wants fewer scowls: “We have to smile . . . We will continue to smile.”

And she vows to eschew poisonous partisanship that turns off voters: “We have to be gracious . . . We do not have to be vicious or mean or wilfully partisan.”

Wynne may be the first party leader in recent memory to proffer such muted rhetoric in front of a home crowd of Liberal diehards accustomed to a traditional Tory-bashing, New Democrat-mocking pep rally.

It’s not what the crowd was expecting. She is not what the crowd was expecting.

And she is not what her political opponents, Tory Leader Tim Hudak and the NDP’s Andrea Horwath, were expecting. Especially not Horwath.

Until now, Horwath has marketed herself as the anti-politician — a sensible female leader going up against two men in suits behaving like boys in a sandbox. She tried to stay above the fray, and was rewarded with more seats and an enviable 50 per cent approval rating.

Now, Ontario’s first female premier is poaching on her territory — both in terms of personal style and progressive substance. Can the NDP leader adapt to the challenge of a touchy-feely Wynne honeymoon?

The day after Wynne’s sellout speech, Horwath gave a command performance of her own to the buttoned-down, tradition-bound Empire Club. Instead of Pink’s raunchy lyrics, a polite toast to the Queen — and a roomful of Bay St. lobbyists keen to suss out the woman who just might be Ontario’s next premier if the polls go her way.

Like Wynne the night before, Horwath didn’t stray from her teleprompter as she projected an image of reasonableness — “not partisan point-scoring, not campaign positioning.”

A former community organizer, Horwath always urged former premier Dalton McGuinty to hold more “respectful conversations.” Be careful what you wish for. Now, Horwath has had her fill of conversational politics from Wynne, herself a former professional mediator.

“Words must be backed up with action,” Horwath told her blue chip audience gravely. “I’ve made it clear to the premier that the government can’t expect the support of New Democrats unless we see results for people in the coming budget.”

Horwath wants Wynne to walk the talk, not just talk — and talk. Wielding the balance of power in the Legislature, she tells her audience the Liberals must close corporate tax loopholes, boost welfare payments and cut auto insurance rates.

She is likely to get her way on most of those demands in next month’s budget. On style and substance, the two leaders are more closely aligned than most political rivals.

Both speeches were unexpected crowd-pleasers — Wynne’s to a friendly partisan crowd, Horwath’s to a curious business audience. Soon enough, voters will be able to hear (and decide) for themselves which one is the better talker — and walker.

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